


Screw-Up

by alcx



Category: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Genre: AU, Accident, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Gay Relationship, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 12:54:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6855604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alcx/pseuds/alcx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dante's parents reveal that he was an accident. Devastated, he turns to Ari.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Screw-Up

**Author's Note:**

> ahhh im such a terrible person for making sweet dante suffer. I love him so much. I just go this little idea and I wrote a tiny fic that isn't much good. Ummm I tried to keep them in character and sort of preserve the style that the book was written in but that didn't work too well...I tried. 
> 
> Honestly, this is my favorite book of all time, so I just had to contribute to our small fandom. I hope you like it~
> 
> Feel free to leave comments and kudos and bookmark!

I was sitting on my bed, staring at the walls when I heard the phone ring. My parents were out- I didn't know where- so I had to get the phone myself. For a second, I thought of just ignoring it and letting it ring out. I didn't.

I picked it up just before it could go to voicemail. "Hello?"

The person that called had a quiet, broken voice. He sounded like he was crying. And then I realized it was Dante, even before he said anything. "Ari."

"Can I come over?"

"Sure," I said.

It was raining fiercely outside, wind blowing hard and lightning illuminating the sky. Dante didn't drive. Was he planning to just run through the rain?

He did. I watched him dash down the sidewalk, and I opened the door as soon as I had seen him. No shoes. He was soaked and panting and sniffling.

"You look like shit," I said, moving out of the doorway so he could come in.

He didn't say anything at all. He stood there, back turned toward me, and I could see he was trembling. Dante let out a massive sob, and he suddenly turned around and threw his arms around me.

It wasn't fair. Someone like Dante didn't deserve this. I didn't know why he was crying, but it made me feel something and I was angry. Who could have even made him cry this hard?

"Ari," he whispered. He sounded vulnerable and miserable and hurt and it made me want to punch him. He was so beautiful when he cried, it made me want to do bad things to him. Terrible things. Things he would never forgive me for. Things I would always regret. I was a terrible person for wanting to hurt an angel.

I didn't do the terrible things I was thinking of. I pulled Dante against me, unwilling to let him go. He was cold and shivering and soaking wet.

Hugs weren't really my thing. But Dante was my thing; I was into him. I fell a tiny bit in love with him. Hugging him, holding him- it was nice. So nice.

I knew that Dante was in love with me. Sam and Mrs. Quintana had insisted, and so had my parents. Once they said it, it became very plain. I was scared to make a move, though. Terrified.

Instead of directly confessing or kissing him, I would relish in platonic contact. I noticed that he would sometimes stand a little closer than what constituted as friendly, or he'd brush my hand with his. I was in love with that. I'm just not sure I did a great job of showing it.

"Dante," I said quietly, "What happened?"

He shook his head vigorously and pushed himself further against me. His warm tears were soaking through my shirt.

I took his hand in mine and pulled him to my room, letting him sit on the bed. I sat right next to him, close enough so that our legs and shoulders touched.

Dante kept sobbing harder and harder. Why did he have to be such a beautiful crier? I sat, and waited for him to finish crying. And when he did, he said something terrible.

"I was a mistake," he said, frail and hardly audible. "Ari, I'm a mistake."

I wanted to punch him for saying stuff like that. I really did. I had never felt so angry in my life. How could he dismiss himself like that? He was so fucking beautiful and interesting and lovely, and _god_. Someone like him was definitely not a mistake. He was an angel in the midst of my chaos.

"What are you saying? You're not a mistake, Dante." It was meager, and shitty consolation. But there waz no way I would be able to explain how amazing he really was, how I was feeling. There are over a million words in the English and Spanish languages, and yet somehow, none of them seem to fit Dante just right. He was so beyond words. He absolutely transcended them.

"I mean it. My parents told me...I wasn't planned. I thought..."

Oh. I wasn't sure what to do, not at all. I was shit at consoling people. I didn't want to just sit there either. I changed the subject instead.

"Dante, will you tell me something honestly?" I said, as gently as I could say.

He stopped his sobbing and the room went dead quiet. Tears still rolled down his cheeks, but he was silent. "Ok," he said.

"Are you in love with me, Dante?"

He didn't say anything. He looked over at me, looking confused and scared. "Would that upset you?"

"No, no it wouldn't. Are you in love with me?" I asked again.

He turned his head away, and I stared at his long, dark hair. It felt like hours before he spoke again. He was tense. Anxious. "How did you know, Ari? I didn't know I was so transparent."

"Look at me, Dante."

He did. Many, many tears rolled down his pale cheeks. I brushed them away with my finger. Someone like Dante didn't deserve pain. If there was someway I could take that away from him, I would.

But now, the best I could do was lean in close and put my arms around his waist, and brush my lips against his. They were soft and supple. So nice. I thought that maybe I could kiss him forever.

I was falling in love with the idea of kissing him, falling in love with his lips.

"I'm crazy about you, Dante," I whispered against his mouth, not wanting to leave the close proximity we had in that moment.

"I thought that kissing boys didn't work for you."

"Kissing you works for me."

He looked so happy to hear me say that. Cheesy shit. Dante liked that stuff. I didn't. But I was glad anyway. So glad to be loving him of all the boys that I could love.

"You're an angel, Dante," I said breathlessly, kissing him again, pulling him closer, feeling him. "You're not a mistake, either. You're the most beautiful human being in the world. God doesn't screw up things like that. You are completely and totally deliberate."

He pushed me down onto my bed and laid on top of me. His kisses were passionate and filled with fervor. I wanted to touch him everywhere...I let my hands roam a bit, feeling his back and caressing his face.

Sam and Mrs. Quintana made a mistake. And their mistake was that Dante was not a mistake. He was perfect, and even if he wasn't planned, it didn't make him a mistake. It made him a surprise and everything about him a surprise. His love, his being, his kisses...it was special.

Dante Quintana was never supposed to exist. It still did not make him a mistake or an error or a fault or an accident. It only made him another one of the secrets of the universe that I so treasured, just waiting to be solved.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! Constructive criticism is welcomed ;)
> 
> tumblr: http://toooru.co.vu  
> (i take prompts and requests btw!)


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